Epilogue #2
“What did y’all do?” She demanded to know, poking his chest playfully.
“I planned a family dinner,” he responded.
“Hmph,” Lane huffed, still suspicious.
“Let’s go out to the terrace so we can start dinner,” he said as he kissed her forehead.
Something about his kisses always softened her, especially when he needed her to do something. Lane Sanders had never obeyed anything easily in her life, but she had learned the difference between trusting Lennox to lead and mindlessly being controlled.
Lennox offered his hand, and Lane looked at it lovingly as she took it.
“Fine,” she said, “But if this is a surprise party and it’s not my birthday, I’m pushing Tariq in the pool.”
“He probably deserves that anyway,” Lennox said, supporting the idea and laughing.
“Always,” she added.
They walked through the suite toward the beachfront terrace where they had first connected and realized irritation was just attraction wearing boxing gloves.
This was the first place they had stopped pretending long enough to let the truth breathe between them, and their teasing shifted into temptation.
The beauty of St. Barts was more than the aesthetics; it was the place Lennox felt the terrifying pull of wanting one woman that would make him break the promise he’d made to his teenage self.
He had run from it then but not today. Today, he walked her back to the beginning so he could ask her for the rest. He was going to be her middle, her end, her forever. Lane stepped onto the terrace and stopped to look at everyone she loved waiting on her, including Calla, James, and Amiyah.
Purple roses, dahlias, and lavender covered the terrace, and a glowing sign stood beneath the arch, shining bright against the ocean behind it.
WILL YOU MARRY ME?
Lane’s hand flew to her mouth, making her stop in her tracks before turning to Lennox with tear-filled eyes that quickly spilled before either of them spoke.
“Lennox,” she breathed.
He barely got one step forward before she ran into his arms. Everyone around them made a soft and emotion-filled “Awwww,” though Lennox hardly heard it because the moment Lane hit his chest with all her softness and her arms wrapped tight around his neck, nothing else mattered.
Her face buried against him like the answer was already trying to climb out before the question had been properly asked.
He held her with both arms and stood there soaking in the depth of the moment. The boy in the hallway was not the man on the terrace. The woman in his arms had shown him that love could live in their home without feeling like a trap.
Lane pulled back enough to look at him, tears sliding down her cheeks. “You are so dramatic.”
He laughed even though his own eyes burned. “I learned from you.”
“I’ll go for an Oscar when it comes to you,” he said, voice breaking just enough to make her kiss his lips.
Lennox took her hands and stepped back.
Lane shook her head immediately. “Don’t you dare make me cry ugly in front of everybody.”
“Too late,” Nova called.
Lane pointed without looking. “Silence, Sinclair.”
“Let the man cook,” Tariq sniffed.
Lane laughed through tears and Lennox held her hands tighter.
“Lane Sanders,” he said.
The terrace quieted; even the ocean seemed to lower itself to hear Lennox pop the question.
“I spent most of my life afraid of love because I thought commitment was where people went to become cruel. I watched the worst version of marriage up close, and I told myself the safest thing I could do was never give one woman enough of me to hurt her,” he went on, seeing Lane’s eyes soften. “Then you happened.”
A tear slipped down his face before he could stop it, and he didn’t wipe it away. He just continued speaking from his heart.
“You challenged every cowardly thing in me. You made me look at the difference between control and care. Between possession and devotion. Between wanting someone and actually being worthy of them. You didn’t let me hide behind my father’s failures.
You made me decide what kind of man I wanted to be and then gave me room to become him without letting me off easy. ”
Lane laughed softly between her tears. “That sounds like me.”
“It is you.” His thumb brushed over her hand.
“You are the sharpest, softest, strongest woman I’ve ever known.
You are lavender with might. You are the woman who built a home for those in need out of the hunger nobody saved you from.
You are the woman who taught me that softness, with the right person, is strength, and that love that does the work is not a prison.
In fact, freedom comes when both people keep choosing each other even on the hard days,” he poured into his future wife as he heard the sobs of his mother behind him, keeping his eyes on Lane.
“I refuse to spend another day letting you wonder where this is going. You’re not temporary to me.
You’re not almost, maybe, someday, or if fear allows it—you’re my now, my later, and my forever if you’ll have me,” he got out as he noticed Lane’s lips trembled.
“I told you I was going to make you my wife,” he said, smiling through the emotion, “And I meant it. I need you to know today that you’re going from Miss to my Mrs, not because a ring makes you worthy.
You were worthy before I ever learned how to love you right, but because I want the honor of being your husband, your safe place, your soft landing, your menace, your Robot, and the man who never stops choosing you. ”
He finally lowered to one knee, and Lane gasped. Tariq sobbed loudly enough to make KC elbow him as Tariq whispered, “My bad.”
Lennox pulled the ring box from his pocket and opened it, revealing the four-carat square-cut solitaire diamond ring. The ring was bold, elegant, and brilliant like Lane.
Her eyes widened. “Oh my God,” she whispered as he looked up at her.
“Lane Sanders, will you marry me?” He finally asked.
She screamed, “Yes!” After what felt like the longest five seconds ever.
The terrace erupted, and Tariq yelled, “We got a wedding, heathens!”
Mielle and Jeanette clung to each other, both sobbing openly because neither thought they'd be here to experience this moment with their children. Lennox slid the ring onto Lane’s finger proudly, saying that it was the perfect fit.
He stood, pulling her into his arms again, but this time as his fiancée.
She kissed him with all the force of every yes she had once been too scared to give.
Lennox relished the kiss before pulling back and looking at Lane like he couldn’t decide where his gratitude belonged.
“My fiancée,” he whispered.
Lane pulled back just enough to glare at him through tears. “Say it again,” she demanded.
“My fiancée,” he repeated as he watched her smile break open so wide that it reached her bright, beautiful eyes.
“My Robot,” she cooed.
“My Lavender,” he said, feeling relief that he’d gotten a yes to forever.
“You did so good,” Lane gushed, holding up her hand to admire her ring.
Before Lennox could respond, their people closed in to congratulate them. Nova threw her arms around Lane first, almost knocking them sideways, and Cadence followed, joy written all over her.
KC hugged Lennox hard, whispering, “Proud of you, bro,” against his shoulder before letting him go so he could talk to his mother.
Mielle held Lennox’s face between her hands and told him he was a good man, and Jeanette hugged Lane carefully, but Lane pulled her mother in for a full hug, skipping the careful shit.
“I’m so happy for you, baby,” her mother spoke through tears.
Lane didn’t flinch at her mother’s affection and emotion; she basked in her love. Lane reached back for him, and that was the part that nearly broke him. Love had healed Lane in a way that made room for her to forgive and hold her boundaries.
The sun dipped lower, washing the terrace in fiery reds and soft corals, but the party was starting.
Lane stayed tucked into Lennox’s side, watching her ring catch the light every time she moved her hand, which she did often and with absolutely no shame.
At one point she looked up at him, eyes still wet but smiling.
“I can’t wait to take your last name; we don’t even have to negotiate,” she giggled.
He grinned. “I guess I did better than good, Mrs. Jackson.”
“You did, but no wedding hashtags involving robots,” she let him know.
“Can we revisit this declaration later?” He inquired playfully.
“No,” she stated with finality.
“Can Tariq?” Lennox asked.
“Absolutely not,” Lane told him while trying not to laugh.
“Too late! I have twelve!” Tariq yelled from across the terrace.
“Delete them!” Lane pointed at him.
“Never!” Tariq yelled again.
Lennox laughed while holding her closer, feeling sorry that his father never got to experience love that didn't make a man weak but stronger. With Lane, love gave him somewhere to put his strength without turning it into a weapon. He and Lane were proof that family could be chosen, repaired, expanded, and protected. He wasn’t his father, and he never would be.
Jason Jackson had used love as leverage while Lennox Jackson learned to offer it as shelter.
Lane looked at him with love in her eyes. “You happy, Papa?” She asked, knowing the answer.
“Happiness is still too small,” he answered, smiling.
“You and these poetic answers,” she rolled her eyes, but her smile widened.
“I’m marrying Lavender Haze. I have standards to meet.”
“You better remember that,” she reminded him.
“Every day.”
He kissed her again until he’d had his fill of her. Lennox didn’t look back at the boy who had sworn off love out of fear. He only looked at the woman in his arms and the future opening in front of them because he’d found forever on Lennox Lane.
The end.
Maybe.